


Prince Damianos and the Green Knight

by HandmaidenOfHorror



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Arthurian, M/M, Temporary Character Death, dark(ish)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:40:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25382485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HandmaidenOfHorror/pseuds/HandmaidenOfHorror
Summary: A mysterious green man lets Damianos keep his amazing sword for the price of letting him return the blow a year later. Damianos immediately regrets agreeing. (Arthuriana with a twist.)
Relationships: Auguste & Damen (Captive Prince), Damen/Laurent (Captive Prince)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10
Collections: Alternate Universe Exchange 2020





	Prince Damianos and the Green Knight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lilyrai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilyrai/gifts).



He was stupid. Ah so stupid. And now his arrogance will lead to his death.

Prince Damianos kept chastising himself silently as he rode alone through the sparsely populated woods north of Akielos. He should have known better than to deal with supernatural.

It all started nearly a year before. Late in the night the Akielon court was celebrating the end of harvest and autumn equinox when an otherworldly figure appeared on the palace square, seemingly materializing out of thin air. It was a man, a young man could be called extraordinarily beautiful if his skin and hair were not the deep green of summer leaves. The apparition caused a panic among the celebrants, with the king drunkenly demanding everyone to fight the man – which the guests were reluctant to follow, as nobody had any weapons on themselves during the celebration while the man held a splendid sword.

Were, everyone other than Damianos. In drunken courage, he charged the man with his bare fists, shouting, “This sword will soon be mine!”, only to be humiliatingly defeated without the strange man even unsheathing the blade.

“You like my sword, don’t you,” were the first words the phantom said, “You can have it under one condition.”

“What condition?” asked Damianos, standing up and eager to cover his failure before his father.

“You will behead me, and then a year and a day later meet me at the Green Chapel and allow me to return the deed.”

“Sure thing,” said Damianos, and eagerly extended his hand for the sword. After the man handed it to him, he didn’t even wait for him to kneel before cutting his head off in one stroke.

The man didn’t die, which only disappointed rather than terrified the prince at the time. Instead, the apparition only picked his head and turned it to face Damianos.

“Rude and arrogant young man, remember your promise or you won’t be the only one facing its consequences,” said the head and then the phantom disappeared.

And thus started the fall of prince Damianos. People turned away from him, believing him to have doomed all of the court. He was only still alive because of his status as the crown prince, but after he sobered he realized in spite of his accomplishments in warfare he won’t be accepted as the next king. In fact, he was not assassinated yet only because his father wanted him to _be a man and fulfill his damn promise_. And that’s how Damianos found himself alone bar his horse, far in the north, searching for a mythical place that may not even exist.

They have kicked him out as soon as the snows melted in the north and Damianos spent weeks looking for the place where he’ll meet his doom. No luck so far. He hasn’t seen any hamlets, let alone villages for days now and he had to walk in front of his horse through forest paths made by wild animals when he reached a stream and saw something impossible – a manor on its edge. How could such a huge building be located so far from civilization? Was anyone even still living there? At worst, Damianos could at least have a roof above his head at night…

“Hey you!” a high voice called from somewhere on the other bank of the stream, “You look like shit.”

Damianos was about to throw a nasty reply when he located the speaker and realized it was a child.

“I’ve been travelling for weeks,” Damianos replied instead, “If you were in my situation you would look the same.”

“Why won’t you come to our house to bathe and refresh yourself?” another voice asked. The child was accompanied by a youth about Damianos’ age, the elegant sharpness of his features completing the kid’s soft features.

“I…,” Damianos started but didn’t know what else to say, “Thank you.”

The trio walked towards the manor. They didn’t talk, and Damianos observed that there seemed to be no road leading to or from the building, nor any farms in its surroundings. When they were about to enter the manor, its gate was opened by a gorgeous young man.

“Laurent, Nicaise, what a catch have you brought home!” he laughed, ”Isn’t it prince Damianos of Akielos!”

“What’s Akielos?” the younger boy asked but was hushed by the older one.

“I am Damianos indeed, and who may you be?” Damianos asked.

“I am Auguste, prince of Vere, and you have already met my younger brothers,” Auguste smiled friendly.

Damianos has never heard of Vere, but he guessed far north had many small independent princedoms.

“I’ve been travelling for a long time, and were invited by…” he looked at the older of the two boys he met by the stream.

“Laurent,” replied Laurent.

“By Laurent to stay in your manor for a while.” finished Damianos.

“My pleasure,” said Auguste inviting Damianos in, “Your horse will be taken care of, don’t worry about her.”

And in Damianos went.

***

Damianos relaxed in hot springs just outside the manor. It was just like visiting a thermae in Akielon! Auguste told him the manor was built here specifically due the hot springs’ presence, and Damianos believed him. So relaxing! What a shame these are the last few days of his life. The prince and his brothers (whom Damianos assumed to be princes too) were surprisingly hospitable. After hearing about his journey, Auguste helpfully shared the location of the mythical Green Chapel and let Damianos live in their household until the fateful day, freely using all their resources.

Damianos was happy to taste proper food and wear fresh clothes again, but he’s been abstaining from alcohol ever since his drunk decision ruined his life. He felt uncomfortable using them without giving anything in return, but his hosts insisted he doesn’t pay. After a lot of begging, Auguste finally relented.

“Fine! The payment is thus – at the end of your stay, give me everything you obtained during it that didn’t come from me.”

It was a strange payment, but not the strangest thing about the household. For one, Damianos has never seen any slaves or servants – it seemed as if the three princes were living alone. When he tried to ask Auguste or Laurent about their living situation, the oldest brother laughed and quickly changed subjects while the middle brother just shrugged and said “We do without”.

“You should have asked me,” the youngest brother chirped.

“What would you say, Nicaise?” asked Damianos.

“That you should think whether you really want to know the answers to your questions,” the boy replied and ran into the forest laughing.

A sound of someone coming to the hot springs brought Damianos back to reality.

“Move a bit, will you,” Laurent called from behind him and Damianos obliged, the long journey having taught him about politeness and humility what court life didn’t.

Damianos was used to seeing people naked all the time in Akielos, but with Laurent it was somewhat different. There was a tension Damianos never felt when bathing with his warriors after training, but not open sexual excitement. Laurent was something else. Damianos realized he had never before been alone with the most mysterious of three brothers.

Minutes passed in silence as the two youths didn’t look at each other.

“So you are leaving tomorrow, aren’t you?” Laurent finally broke the silence.

“Yeah,” replied Damianos, “It takes at least a day to get to the site of the Chapel and I don’t want to be late.”

Damianos accepted the thought of his death, but he didn’t want to risk the lives of anyone in Akielos, even his bastard brother.

“Then you don’t have much time felt,” Laurent stated matter of factly, “Let’s fuck.”

Damianos was certain he misheard.

“What did you say?” he asked.

“Let’s fuck,” repeated Laurent, “You are about to die, so there won’t be any other chance. I like you and I know you like me, so why not follow our instincts?”

“I cannot,” replied Damianos, “It took me a long time to accept my own death. Just by telling me this you make it more difficult.”

“I cannot take back my words,” replied Laurent, “But I can make the departure easier. There’s a potion that makes people immune to any pain for hours. Please take it at least.”

“That’s very kind of you, Laurent,” Damianos replied, assuming that after “let’s fuck” he doesn’t have to address the other prince by his title, “I’d gladly take it.”

“Thank you,” Laurent replied and kissed Damianos on the lips. The kiss lasted but a moment, and then Laurent was gone, taking off from the hot springs towards the manor.

***

To say that the next day was harsh was an understatement. Damianos didn’t meet Laurent during breakfast, and even Nicaise looked sad. When Auguste excused himself from the meal, the youngest boy quickly took a small bottle from his pocket and pushed it towards Damianos.

“From Laurent. Don’t show Augu,” he said and returned to eating as if nothing happened.

Damianos nodded. When he and Auguste (who insisted on accompanying him all the way) were about to take off, Auguste turned to Damianos with a question.

“Was there anything you obtained during your stay with us?”

Instead of answering, Damianos kissed Auguste on the lips, remaining silent on the subject of the small bottle. Soon the two of them rode through the forest towards the Chapel. Without unforeseen obstacles, they reached it within a day. The building was peculiar. It wasn’t really a chapel, more like a ruined wooden temple in a style very much unlike the ones he knew from Akielos, covered with moss almost completely. Damianos decided to take camp in it.

“Please take my horse,” Damianos asked Auguste, “I don’t want her to die in the forest.”

“I’ll take good care of her,” Auguste promised before departing.

Damianos had long time to wait. In the night, He couldn’t fall asleep. He thought about the drug given to him by Laurent, but in the end decided against using it, silently apologizing to the other prince. Eventually he fell asleep and woke up to the worst sound possible – the laughter of the green man.

“I see you are here early,” the phantom said as Damianos jumped up from his makeshift bedding, “Let’s get it over with, shall we?”

“Yeah,” Damianos replied, kneeling in front of the apparition, “Sorry for beheading you last year.”

“That was the promise, wasn’t it?” he replied and took a swing.

Damianos felt being hit by something soft and then heard more laughter.

“Oh dear, I must have taken a rubber sword by mistake! But what happened cannot be undone and the promise was fulfilled. Farewell, prince Damianos-“

“Wait!” Damianos yelled while standing up, “You are Auguste, aren’t you?”

The green knight turned.

“I thought my appearance was scary enough to hide any similarity,” Auguste replied, turning into his human form.

“It was the voice,” replied Damianos, “Anyways, what is the meaning of this? Who are you? Why haven’t you killed me?”

“That’s many questions at once,” replied Auguste, “In short, neither me nor my brothers are human. A person, and the contract prohibits me from saying who, made a contract for me to appear and in a showy way humiliate and get rid of you. They didn’t count on the power of words though. I returned the blow – I didn’t say what I will strike you with.”

And he winked.

“Now you can return to Akielos in glory-“

“I don’t want to,” replied Damianos, “I saw how they treated me when they could get away with it. I just do not see myself there. But Laurent, on the other hand… did he know you didn’t want to kill me?”

“He didn’t,” replied Auguste, “I had to restrain him because he wanted to hurt me and escape with you while I was regenerating.”

_Oh._

“I… Can I meet him again?” asked Damianos.

“Not only meet him, how about living with us here in the forest?”

“That would be delightful,” agreed Damianos, and the two rode away from the Chapel.

As before, the road was unusually fast despite Damianos sharing a horse with Auguste (Did the man even need a horse? So many questions.) When they arrived, they were first spotted by Nicaise, who ran towards Laurent, who was sitting under a willow, staring into distance without a focus.

“They are back! Look, Laurent, they are back!”

Laurent turned and as soon as his gaze met Damianos’ he took off running. Damianos himself jumped off the horse and the two youths met half way, collapsing from the collision, laughter mixed with tears. There were many questions Damianos wanted to know the answer to, but now he had the time to finally learn them.


End file.
